I wouldn't say that I've mellowed. I'm less mellow, perhaps.

I'm appalled that the word 'feminism' has been denigrated to a place of almost ridicule and I very passionately believe the word needs to be revalued and reintroduced with power and understanding that this is a global picture. It isn't about us and them.

I was brought up in a tenement house in a working district. We didn't even have a bathroom! We had a gaslight in the hallway and a black-and-white TV.

When you go to Africa, and you see children, they're usually barefoot, dirty and in rags, and they'd love to go to school.

Over the years, I was never really driven to become a solo artist, but I was curious to find out who I was as an individual creative person. It's taken some time, but now I feel I've truly paid my dues. I guess I'm at a point now where I'm more comfortable in my own skin.

I love to be individual, to step beyond gender.

I think music is the most phenomenal platform for intellectual thought.